Taylor Paige Winfield

TAYLOR P. WINFIELD, then a graduate student at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, was awarded funding in October 2018 to aid research on “Inscribing Identites on Uniformed Bodies,” supervised by Dr. Robert Wuthnow. Funding supported ethnographic data collection at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School. The research investigated the (re)socialization of civilians into soldiers and how ethnic, gender, class, sexual, and religious identities shape the resocialization process. The grantee’s full integration into the military unit and duration of the study allowed examination of how formal, explicit displays of power and subtle, implicit power were exercised on a daily basis within the institution and how individual soldiers complied with, resisted, or rebelled against institutional norms. Research findings indicate that military resocialization is far from the homogenous process. The data builds upon embodiment and knowledge literature to show what happens to identity when individuals are forced to change their physical and mental techniques, and how rebellion and resistance to standards can be intentional or a result of structural inequalities. Findings also demonstrate how racial, sexual and class-based ideologies function within in the institution and contribute to what it means to look and behave like a good soldier and future officer.